Here’s why Santa Barbara is about to become your go-to California weekend getaway. 

Affectionately known as the American Riviera, Santa Barbara is a traveler’s delight. It’s easy to navigate and perfectly situated between the beach and mountains with ocean views galore. Don’t forget about wine country, horse country, sailing, surfing, Spanish colonial architecture, historic hotels, and those charming red tile roofs perfectly contrasted against white stucco walls. An oceanfront city, Santa Barbara is quite a beauty. Toss in an au courent farm-to-table dining scene – there is much to love about this historic small-ish town that is anything but sleepy.

Voted “30 Best Small Cities in America” in Condé Nast Traveler’s Reader’s Choice Awards, here are five reasons why Santa Barbara might just grab hold of your heart and not let go. (Sorry, San Francisco!)

1. Dog & Horse-Friendly Beautiful Beaches

With miles of golden sand and endless ocean views, no wonder Santa Barbara was voted “Best Beach Town” by Sunset magazine in 2015. It definitely doesn’t disappoint. There are plenty of outfitters who will help you up on a horse to ride off into the sandy beach for sunset. A local’s favorite is dog-friendly Butterfly Beach in Montecito. Or head over to Arroyo Burro Beach and keep your eyes on the water for breaching whales and jumping dolphins.

And if horses aren’t your thing, stay beachfront at Bacara Resort & Spa. Nestled between the Gaviota Coast and Santa Ynez Mountains, stroll along its Cliff Walk to the waterline and along the nature loop to its picnic area. Join in Bacara’s oceanfront yoga and a fit tour for a land or ocean adventure with onsite lessons and rentals.

2. An Urban Wine Trail in a Historic Downtown

Santa Barbara’s relaxed beach vibe makes its way into its wine scene in its historic urban wine trail. There’s nothing stuffy going on here. You’ll sip, swirl, and taste some local favorite varietals while rubbing elbows with friendly locals who know the winemaker by her first name. Tasting rooms are charming with stucco walls, winding narrow pathways, red brick tiles, and bursts of color from magenta bougainvillea. Head to Margerum and try one of their organic wines from its La Encantada Vineyards. Margerum’s elegant French-style whites and reds are so drinkable all day long. But pace yourself. And leave a few tasting rooms to try when you come back. There are more than thirty after all.

3. Stunning Historic Hotels

If you love Spanish colonial-style architecture, you’ll never want to leave Four Seasons Resort The Biltmore Santa Barbara. Just opposite Montecito’s Butterfly Beach, it’s an iconic hotel that gives you the feeling you’re walking through a 22-acre botanical garden with colorful tile fountains and majestic palm trees. At night, Ty Lounge transforms into a magical throwback to the 1920s with Moroccan carpets and massive glass chandeliers where you can dine on Spanish tapas by candlelight or next to the fire on its ocean view patio.

4. Surfing, Sailing, and SUP

You are going to get wet in Santa Barbara. There’s no other way around it and soon you’ll have sun-kissed skin and hair. The Santa Barbara Adventure Company is your gateway to ocean adventures and The Channel Islands. SUP, kayak through ocean caves or take a surf lesson. And there’s no better way to see the coastline than from a mile out to sea on a sailboat. The Santa Barbara Sailing Center has boats for rent and experienced captains for hire.

5. Car-Free Collaborations

Santa Barbara’s “Car Free-dom” initiative makes leaving your keys behind easier than ever. Just pick up the Car Free map that lays out bike paths, electric shuttle services bus lines, and the famous Red Tile Walking tour that winds you through the most beautiful points of interest downtown. Amtrack Pacific Surfliner provides service from San Diego and San Luis Obispo, where you’ll arrive in a beautifully restored historic train station. Bring your bike onboard and you’re good to go. Also, it pays to go car-less. Between train discounts and hotels offering car-free packages with complimentary pick-up from the train station, free use of electric bikes, and other incentives, Santa Barbara makes it worth your while.

And if you absolutely, can’t leave the car at home and you drive an electric vehicle, the eco-award-winning Santa Barbara Ramada has a (guilt-free) electric charging station.

Find Donna on Twitter and Instagram

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In the days since the horrific mass murder and suicide in Isla Vista, Calif. it’s easy to get swept up into the news frenzy. The media has dissected every move and word—written or spoken—by Elliot Rodger, the disturbed young man who did this unthinkable deed.

Like many people, this atrocious event—six people murdered, one suicide and nearly a dozen other injured—is turning over and over in my head. The main reason it is affecting me so much is that for the last eight months and twelve days, I’ve been a parent. Everything changes when you have a child. Everything. Especially when news like this is becoming a regular occurrence. Especially when after hearing of the tragedy of seven young lives lost, I heard more than one person ask “Is that all?” We’ve become desensitized to these crimes in all the wrong ways. And we’re focusing on all the wrong triggers that lead up to these events. Like everyone else stunned by this tragedy, my heart goes out to all those affected by the incident. I have the questions we all have: How could this have happened? Why didn’t people see the signs early enough to stop it? What was wrong with this young man who had his whole life ahead of him and chose this instead?

Already, this issue has turned into yet another debate about gun control. Rodger reportedly bought his guns legally. But it seems clear that his rage could not be contained by whether or not he had a gun. He stabbed his roommates to death. Almost a year before the murderous rampage, he attempted to push people off of a 10-foot ledge because he was so outraged at being without a girl while at a party. Yes, we need to address gun access for the mentally disturbed while still honoring the Second Amendment so many people value. But this isn’t a gun issue.

It’s also turned into a discussion about the expectations he appeared to have about women. His “misogynous” rampage has resulted in the Twitter hashtag #yesallwomen, where women have taken to using this tragedy to share stories about their own sexual assault. We don’t need a tragedy like this to justify discussing women’s abuse. It’s its own conversation, one we should be having no matter what. Rodger called his final act of violence his “Day of Retribution,” which was pointed directly at women, because he said so many had refused to love him, to give him the “pleasures” he felt he deserved. This certainly speaks to a sickness in our culture about sexuality, particularly towards women, but it also speaks to something deeper: the people we ignore, the ones we don’t know well enough to sense that these tragedies are likely to occur. To say this is an issue about women’s sexuality devalues the women who lost their lives. It devalues their own sexuality. This isn’t about how women need to stop being labeled as objects. This is about undetected and untreated mental illness and the consequences. Elliot Rodger was disturbed. His perception was skewed about sexuality as much as it was about the significance of his violence. His untreated illness would have expressed itself in other ways regardless of whether or not he’d had sex once or a thousand times, found the love of his life or not. But what he represents, what seems to be a growing group of people we see at the core of these types of crimes, is important to discuss.

Let me backtrack. When I was in the 7^th grade, I sat in front of a boy named Michael. He wore thick glasses. Dressed odd. Smelled like most boys during puberty do. He was quiet and very serious looking all the time. I don’t think I ever saw him smile. I couldn’t relate, and so, along with most everyone else in my class, I just ignored him. He wasn’t important enough for anyone to bully. That privilege was saved for other kids—usually the ones who threaten the bullies’ status. It’s sad to admit, but true: Michael simply didn’t matter to most of us. Until he brutally murdered one of my best friends five years later.

Once he arrived to high school, Michael became “Mic”—no longer the quiet guy we looked past—he was now a drama and poetry nerd from the poorer side of town who had a knack for befriending rich, white, awkward girls. And then, one night, just because he could, he stabbed and strangled my dear friend in her own backyard. He stole her parents’ car and drove off into the night, leaving her for dead. (He’s now serving a life sentence for his crime.) If Karen had known enough to look for the signs of mental illness; if she had been comfortable enough asking questions and talking to an adult about Mic’s mental state, perhaps she may be alive today. Perhaps not. But she didn’t have a fighting chance against a late night visit from a friend who in an instant, became a killer. She didn’t have a chance, because she didn’t know the signs.

Why these senseless murders happen may never be fully understood. There are now too many to list. Surely there are numerous factors that play into each case. But one factor that seems obvious is that these young men who commit such crimes tend to fit the same stereotype as Mic and Elliot. They may not be poor or rich, they may not be all that unpopular, even. But they tend to be the ones most other kids ignore. The ones we think choose to be loners all on their own.

What we’ve done to bring awareness to the issue of bullies in the last several years is phenomenal. It’s changing and saving lives. But it’s only one problem our children face when learning to deal with the intricacies of peers and cliques. We also need to put a big effort towards cultivating inclusiveness and respect. We need to teach our children that just because someone else may be quiet and different does not mean they don’t want to participate. It doesn’t mean they don’t want to have friends, to be loved. And it most certainly does not mean they aren’t hiding a serious mental problem. We so often assume mental instability manifests outwardly–the deranged homeless person shouting to no one. But mental illness, more often than not, is a silent affliction. People struggle and suffer with their issues behind closed doors, until the one day that they don’t.

Elliot Rodger made a horrific, unforgivable decision. But unlike others, like Adam Lanza, who opened fire on grade school children in Sandy Hook, Connecticut in 2012, Rodger did us the favor of sharing in gruesome and sober detail in his 137-page manifesto, how he felt. Or how he thought he felt, anyway. As deluded as he was, he seemed to be able to get clear about feeling that he had not been loved enough. Even if that came out in a misogynistic tone of sexual entitlement. But we know what drove him to his death–a rage and illness that was only fueled by feeling unlovable. That’s not enough to forgive or forget what he did. But perhaps it’s enough to remind us that in raising our children, we need to teach them that bullying is not okay, and neither is ignoring others, either.

Taking an interest in other children, being kind and genuine won’t prevent mental illness. But it can help our children to detect the signals that something is seriously wrong a lot sooner—and, it’s the one thing we can do right now. Gun laws won’t change over night. Neither will our culture’s perception about women and sexual entitlement. But empowering our children to be inclusive and compassionate towards each other can start today. It has to.

Find Jill on Twitter @jillettinger

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 image: timedotcom

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Friend-crushing on the voice of Horny Toad.

We here at EcoSalon are huge fans of Horny Toad Activewear, not just because of the Santa Barbara-based company’s infinitely wearable line of inspired outdoor clothing, but also because of the passion Horny Toad infuses into their messaging and branding. That must be why we adore Safia Radha Ohlson, the woman behind Horny Toad’s social media and content. According to Safia, we’re at the top of her blogroll too. Let the lovefest continue.

Name: Safia Radha Ohlson

Website: http://www.hornytoad.com

Why do you read EcoSalon?

At work I curate much of the content we use in our social media. This means I spend a decent amount of time cruising the internet for relevant, funny, inspiring material – an experience that can range anywhere from satisfying to horrifying. Even on a good day EcoSalon trumps pretty much everything I come across. It’s like having cocktails with your funniest, smartest, most literate girlfriend. It knows when to go deep and keep things super real, it’s outraged when appropriate, but it’s not afraid to dish a little dirt and compare lip balms either. Plus the playlists and recipes… God, I can’t imagine life before kale quinoa cakes.

Tell us a little bit about Horny Toad and its mission.

Horny Toad is a clothing company based in Santa Barbara. We make the kind of stuff you’d wear when, for example, you’ve got a date that begins with a hike and ends with dinner and there’s no time to change in between. Perfect for when you want to look cute but you also want to be casual and are probably going to get a little sweaty. Most of our fabrics are eco-friendly and we try to keep our styles timeless enough that our customers will want to wear them for years and years. We also make some of the best yoga pants I’ve ever owned (and, for the record, I pretty much LIVE in yoga pants).

What do you do there?

Like I mentioned, I do a lot of the social media stuff for Horny Toad. But I’m also the copywriter and editor of all our written content.

How do people embrace the values of the organization within the office?

Our values are well articulated in the phrase “Find Fun. Do Good. Be Comfortable.” Each of us embraces this ethos in our own, personalized ways. Living in Santa Barbara is so ridiculously good that the urge to give back becomes inherent, and I think we’re all living our lives with a huge amount of gratitude and happiness and balance. The Horny Toad company culture reflects this too. We do beach cleanups and other community outreach on a regular basis. We make a big lunch together about once a month as a way of staying connected in a playful, non-work way. Inter-departmentally, we help each other out whenever necessary. Our dogs come to work which keeps the atmosphere light and sane. We’ve also formed several great partnerships with outside organizations and local companies. For example, all of our products are shipped by a Chicago non-profit Horny Toad help found called Planet Access Company which provides work opportunities and beautiful, safe group homes for adults with developmental disabilities.

What hobbies do you pursue when you’re not working?

Right now I’m learning how to be a good meditator, which is a lot like learning how to do magic. When it’s working you can literally transform ignorance and suffering to wisdom and freedom. Pow! Shazam! Also I do a lot of yoga and am learning how to paint and photograph stuff. And I spend an embarrassing amount of time adoring my dog, Jade, who is current reigning queen of the fairy dogs.

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